job skills workshop at rmh ED

Got your qualification and looking for a job? Amy and Jonathan talk about the ED’s Job Skills workshop where they cover tips for your CV, cover letter, the interview and what comes next when looking for a consultant job in Emergency Medicine. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So you've got your exam, but now you haven't got a job or you want to get a job, so what do you do? It's the job skills workshop.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

The interview is your chance to sell yourself. Sometimes that feels a little bit uncomfortable. But I think the interview is the time that you really need to say what you've done and why you're the good uh candidate for the role.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Because you want the job.

unknown 0:18

Might be great.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Jonathan. And this is Captain. Amy, it's been a while. We're going to talk some education. We're going to talk about what happened last week. Care to inform me what the workshop was because I missed it.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yeah, so it was um a pretty good workshop that we ran uh last week um out of the hot department. So it was really aimed at the post-OSCIA trainees that are about to start looking for face and jobs for the first time. So really looking at how they're gonna get the job, how they can prepare their CVs, cover letters, yeah, okay. So so interview tips as well.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

So all the stuff to do. So you've got your exam, but now you haven't got a job, or you want to get a job, so what do you do? How the hell do you move from that phase to the next? So, what did you guys talk about?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yeah, so we had some really good tips on CVs, cover letters. Um we went through some interview tips but with one of our um clinicians who also used to be an interview coach, uh-huh. And then we did some practice interview questions, um, and then there was a bit of a discussion panel about um you know what are the main concerns that you have about transitioning from registrar to console.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Well why don't we want to break that down and we'll go through those things? Yeah. So well, let's start with uh you know, you write your letter or you type your letter. Yeah. Um tips for um C V?

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah, so there was quite a few things that come out of um that discussion. One of the main things was to not keep it too long, so um maybe two, three pages at the at the very most. If it's anything longer than that, then it's too much to read through. Um and also just keep it keep it relevant.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

So um I can't put my sporting achievements in year twelve or something. Is that not? Unfortunately not. Um, what happens if it was really good?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, well, unfortunately not. So it depends on on what role you're going for, but if you're going for your first consultant job, um some of the things that you maybe rotations that you did as an intern are probably less relevant. Yeah. Um so yeah, keep keep it updated and and keep it pretty short.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

That's probably the key thing, isn't it? So you should probably be always updating your C V. Yeah. And then if you do that, you you yes, you drop things out that are not so relevant. So because you're kind of showing people what your experience is and what you're good at and you're selling yourself. So it's what I'm gonna there'll be some there might be something from year 12 that was important, maybe. But actually, no, keep it relevant to the job. Yeah, anything else on a CV?

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Um I guess just you might need to restructure the headings depending on what you're planning for. Um so for example, if you're planning for something in the education field, then you might you know have its own headings in education, etc. So you might need to structure it, restructure it in the headings depending on what job you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So put education up higher and other things down lower, all right. Um okay, so that's C V and probably use some sort of nice template.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah, there's so many nice templates out these days. So Canva and lots of um other platforms have nice templates, so do use them.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

But don't make it too long, make it look smart, snappy, no spelling mistakes, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

What about uh the cover letter? Any tips for that?

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Cover letter is pretty important because um it kind of shows uh introduce some sort of personalization to the application that that you're doing. So um one of the main tips for that was just uh be really careful about the use of AI. Um some of the people in the room who had read quite a f a few numbers number of cover letters, thought that was really obvious when um an applicant had used AI, so too many adjectives. It's obvious to it.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

I can tell you, working as someone who has done a lot of recruiting, um if I I mean the cover letter is where it is. I look at the CV, actually I look at the references on the C V, that's probably the main thing I look at. But the cover letter, the way people write things, if you sound like a robot or it just sounds the same, I'm like, nah, sorry, not interested. It needs to be punchy, nice, human, and it needs to tell say something about yourself, I think. Um and AI is not gonna do that. So and also you can run it through and check whether AI made it anyway. You can check that.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yeah, yeah. Um so you can use AI, I guess, tactically. Um so just to restructure sentences and things like that, but just to make sure it's let's face it, you can't avoid it.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

AI will correct and rephrase things, and that's good, but just be careful. Um, it's got to sound human.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yep. Um, and on sound sounding human, just really important that you're addressing the cover ladder to the right person.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

So um say instead of do your hire manager specifically address the person that who um who's looking after the Because again I I get that email and I go, Well that's not for me, or that is for me, and you've got my name wrong, or you've got my position wrong. And to me it kind of says, You haven't done your research. Not often you'd start. Someone else might have done more research and you haven't done your research, so not as not as interested, not as impressed. Yeah. Any other things on the AI? Oh, I know what I know another thing. Um you should Google yourself.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah, yeah. That's important.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Yeah. Not not all the time. Um, just you know, don't Google yourself every day, but you should Google yourself and just see what comes up. Yeah. Because there might be some social media post that comes up that you don't like. Yeah. Or there might be something uh that comes up because guess what? We'll be Googling you.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Yeah, so just be careful of the social media um and yeah, you might make might want to make it private. Make it private.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yeah, just in case. Okay. Some things stay there forever, but uh yeah, because they might know you for what you did on social media. Be aware of that. Okay, so that's the that's the background stuff before the interview. What about when you come to the interview? Tips for the interview?

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Um so there was the the usual advice about making sure that um you set time aside, that that if it's online, that you check the IT, you don't want to be stressing that that you're you know, your internet Japanai, if you're just about to have a Zoom interview, making sure that you dress quite smartly. Um but in terms of some of the important thing take home points um for the interview, we found that if you're for a specific question, for example, if you asked about what your weaknesses is, just really trying to bring that back to this is a weak one of my weaknesses, but it's also an area area that I'm trying to improve. Yeah. Um so trying to turn a sort of a negative into a positive.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

And you can obviously think of it this before the you know, you think you work this out beforehand. Yeah, you can do it. And you get some examples and you prepare for it, and you might get a few examples, and you probably don't want a a stand like a a weakness. Oh, my weakness is I work too hard.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

You know, that's just stupid, right? So I care too much for my patients. That's my weakness. Yeah, um, so you want to have a realistic kind of probably truthful weakness.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yeah, you want it to be genuine to it.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yeah, and that has a bit of an example, and then you know, I know this people said it, and I've been working, or I've done this thing, or I've practiced this thing, or I've done some course to get better at it.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah, so um really prepping those really commonly used interview questions is uh useful and have lots of examples, probably about conflict and um things like that are yeah, because it's pretty I mean let's face it, planning the interviews, you've got a stock standard of questions and you want to make it standardized for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

So they have to be the same. Yeah, they have to be standardized. So it's only gonna be a few things you're gonna be asked, um, I think. Um what about references? I I I touched on it. Any tips for references?

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Um I think it's probably a good idea to if you're planning to a hospital that you've never worked in before, to try and use the director of your current apartment. Um so, and if you if the director isn't available, for example, if you are planning to that hospital, just to use someone quite high up in leadership, um, you might want to use your DMT, someone senior that you worked with before. And you might it doesn't have to be a doctor, so you can use senior person staff or someone else that you've done a project with, and that's the same thing. And that actually looks pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah, that looks like uh you're part of the whole team. Yeah. Yeah. I I know um, you know, when we when I did recruiting, I'm really just looking to see who the references are because I'm gonna call them. I'm gonna say, well, nice letter, CV look good, but what are they really like? Yeah. Uh you know, tell me something about them. So that's where I get my information. So choose your references well.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

And let your references know that you are they'll be expecting a call because you want them, someone to be cool, call them. There's nothing worse than spice.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Oh yeah, I remember them, they worked for me like uh three years ago, and what are they up to now? Oh, okay. No, you need to word them up, give them a call, um, and reference they're your references, they're there to help you. Yeah. Um but they probably just need a reminder beforehand. Okay. Uh what else did you talk about in this workshop?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Um we kind of touched on um how the interview is your chance to sell yourself. Um and sometimes that's feels a little bit uncomfortable. Um, and I know that as doctors we are particularly bad at you know sell selling ourselves and sort of blowing our own trumpets, but I think the interview is a time that you really need to say what you've done and why you're the good uh candidate for the role. Yes. Um so one of the tips were if if you've kind of worked in a team before, um really to start using the word I. So instead of we have done this, that that's fine, but what particularly have you have you done?

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Um, I was part of this team and I did this and I did that, and my team did this. Um and that's what I propose to do um, you know, going forward.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Um so yeah, and so that that that turns the team's work into your work because you want the job, so you need to market yourself because your competition will do that. Yes, and your competition will get the job ahead of you. So so you just need to up it because people don't know you. Um they'll hear from the reference, but they don't necessarily know how good you are on the floor, they don't know you're from a bar of soap. The other thing is um niche uh areas, so so you're non-clinical or clinical support areas. Have you got any tips about that?

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Yeah, so sometimes it just comes naturally. So if you were start to be interested in something as a training or registrar, it might just flow naturally into your work as a consultant. Um but sometimes it doesn't, and I think that's okay. Um so you might not find your niche straight away. Um don't stress too much about it. That can come with time and also it can change. So you you know you might be interested in something one year and then maybe leave it into something else. So don't stress too much about it. Uh finding a lease straight away.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Probably have some idea of what you might do within non-clinical time.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah, so should I get a job? Particularly if you are planning for a department that you know that you know they might need someone that with a particular skill in one area and that you're interested in that, you would really be sort of so that really feeds into right back to the start, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

So research the department, you're looking at getting a job in. Oh, what do they need? It seems like they need this or they're short on this. Uh, guess what? That's what I like doing. So you can promote yourself as that. You don't have to stick to that, but that might be a way in. So I'm really good at ultrasound, I love it. I see that there's a spot for probably expansion in your ultrasound program. When I was uh worked as a team, I uh I led the ultrasound program, we did this, we started this initiative, and you know, I'd like to continue to do that when I work for you.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

So the panel wants to see how you're gonna fit into their department for you.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, because that's what we're really looking for. Someone, how's this person gonna fit in? Um, how they're gonna join our team? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so now last thing. Um I know you spoke about some anxieties and worries because I heard a bit about this, but uh so when you get the job, you're a consultant starting off. What are people worried about?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Um we find that most of the discussion was about fears, um, I guess about not having all the answers. Um and that that was okay. Um so some of the anxiety around once you're a consultant, that means that you're at the end of the line, and if you don't know what to know the answer, then then why?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah, and I guess the exam kind of sets you up for that, right? The exam kind of sets you up for you've got to know everything. But guess what? Um I've been a consultant, you've been a consultant, we've been consultants for a while, and we don't know everything, but we sure as n hell know how to find it or to problem solve. And I guess you get comfortable with that over time. I ask people, right? Yeah, yeah. Because you you forget things, right? So actually, I'll ask the new consultant, because the new consultant's just done the exam, or or you know, it's not they're not far from the exam. They will often know um the you know, the latest way to manage something or or stats on this or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

So I guess that's the lucky thing about doing emergency is that we do work in a team and there is there's always some bass so not to stress too much about it.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

So I wouldn't stress too much new consultant. You're gonna and you're gonna be possibly not familiar with the department either, so there's a lot of different processes. So it's a lot of questions, it's asking questions, and uh and that actually gets you into the team anyway. Still asking questions hundreds of years on into the job, and that's actually part of one of the most rewarding parts of the job. Yeah. Um, well, that sounds like a great workshop. Yeah, um, really exciting stuff, and uh that's just you know one of the things we do at Royal Melbourne. So good stuff, Amy. Well, thanks for updating me on what I missed last week. It is the job skills workshop.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

It might be great.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

See you all next time. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Bye.